Financial and Other Guarantees

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract]

Product Warranty Disclosure [Text Block]

Financial and Other Guarantees

We generally offer a limited parts and labor warranty on capital equipment. The specific terms and conditions of those warranties vary depending on the product sold and the countries where we conduct business. We record a liability for the estimated cost of product warranties at the time product revenues are recognized. The amounts we expect to incur on behalf of our Customers for the future estimated cost of these warranties are recorded as a current liability on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets. Factors that affect the amount of our warranty liability include the number and type of installed units, historical and anticipated rates of product failures, and material and service costs per claim. We periodically assess the adequacy of our recorded warranty liabilities and adjust the amounts as necessary.

Changes in our warranty liability during the first nine months of fiscal 2012 were as follows:

	Fiscal 2012
Balance, March 31, 2011	$	7,509
Warranties issued during the period	5,624
Settlements made during the period	(2,899		)
Balance, December 31, 2011	$	10,234

We also sell product maintenance contracts to our Customers. These contracts range in terms from one to five years and require us to maintain and repair the product over the maintenance contract term. We initially record amounts due from Customers under these contracts as a liability for deferred service contract revenue on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets within “Accrued expenses and other.” The liability recorded for such deferred service revenue was $37,200 and $24,655 as of December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2011, respectively. Such deferred revenue is then amortized on a straight-line basis over the contract term and recognized as service revenue on our accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income. The activity related to the liability for deferred service contract revenues is excluded from the table presented above.